The U.S.
military has a number of bases in Japan where soldiers are housed and many live
for years at a time. According to the military, it has decided to block
the use of certain websites from its network in an effort to help
Japan recover from the major earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit
recently.

The military reports that the sites are not blocked because of anything to do
with the content that they show, but solely to increase the amount of bandwidth
that is available for military needs. The electrical grid has been overwhelmed
in some areas of Japan and connectivity for internet access is not available in
some areas.

The U.S. Pacific Command has requested the blocking of 13 high-bandwidth sites
that are commonly used on military network computers. These websites include
YouTube, Googlevideo, Amazon, Espn.go.com, eBay, Doubleclick, Eyewonder,
Pandora, Streamtheworld, MTV.com, iFilm, MySpace, and MetaCafe. Interestingly
Facebook isn’t among the listed sites though it is much more popular than
MySpace and would presumably consume more bandwidth.

Facebook is a very common way for deployed military personnel to stay in
contact with their loved ones so perhaps it was left alone to allow continued
contact.

Strategic
Military Command spokesman Rodney Ellison said, "This is a response to a
time of extreme demand for networks. This blockage will be of a temporary
nature and may increase or decrease in the size and scope as necessary. We are
doing this to facilitate the recovery efforts under way in Japan. We are trying
to make sure we are giving them as many avenues and as much support as we
can."

"I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired." -- North Korean Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il